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The OneShirt: A Phoenix from the Ashes [4/24/13 UPDATE: A SHIRTMAKER, AN ENGLISHMAN, CHAMBRAY, AND F

TheFoo

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I bet there is no real universally accepted rule and some shirtmakers just claim what they were taught is the way things are supposed to be done. The shirtmaker I spoke to claimed gauntlet buttons for sleeves that get rolled up, which is not done with FCs.


What is the logic behind rolled-up sleeves demanding gauntlet buttons?
 

dieworkwear

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Royal oxford always looks really gross to me.

In any case, Foo, I like Kamakura shirts and think they're nice, but I don't know if they'd suit you. They're quite trim fitting, and I think you like looser fits.

O'Connells is reproducing the mid-century Brooks OCBDs. The process is still in works, and they're not sure if they can do it yet. Part of it is that they're using more expensive oxford ($15 a yard vs the regular $5 that almost everyone else uses). That's going to result in a higher price point that they're not sure there's a market for. But if it arrives, it'll be in fall.
 

unbelragazzo

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Royal oxford always looks really gross to me.


I only have one, and I think it might be from a high-end book. I can't remember which one, but it was through NsM. Anyway, I think it's pretty good for white shirts to wear at night. In any color other than white I don't like it.
 

Kuro

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iirc they also told me that for button cuff their default is no gaunlet button
 

TheFoo

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Royal oxford always looks really gross to me.

In any case, Foo, I like Kamakura shirts and think they're nice, but I don't know if they'd suit you. They're quite trim fitting, and I think you like looser fits.

O'Connells is reproducing the mid-century Brooks OCBDs. The process is still in works, and they're not sure if they can do it yet. Part of it is that they're using more expensive oxford ($15 a yard vs the regular $5 that almost everyone else uses). That's going to result in a higher price point that they're not sure there's a market for. But if it arrives, it'll be in fall.


Interesting.

However, in response to both your and Dopey's suggestions, I'm not really looking to recreate the historical OCBD. If I wanted that, I'd probably mess around with places like Kamakura and Mercer to get the right result. What I do want is a shirt that can be worn to similar effect, but styled more to my individual tastes.

What I do want to replicate is the ideal OCBD collar roll. Even then, I'm not so convinced historical examples were any better, all in all. People just get lost in the romance of grainy black-and-white photos. Half the time I see raving adulation over a collar's perfect roll, I see no roll at all, just rumpled, flappy oxford cloth. There are few, specific instances that look great, and that's what I want.
 

Manton

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FC will necessarily have a longer gauntlet opening than BC, which is why I think the former needs a button.

No gauntlet buttons on OCBDs.
 

TheFoo

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I only have one, and I think it might be from a high-end book. I can't remember which one, but it was through NsM. Anyway, I think it's pretty good for white shirts to wear at night. In any color other than white I don't like it.


I just don't understand your opposition to poplin. It is quite literally a "plain weave" and as neutral as you can get. It's the standard. That's why it can be worn with anything. With poplin, it's really the color and pattern that control whether it works in a particular context. The weave itself is always fine.
 

TheFoo

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FC will necessarily have a longer gauntlet opening than BC, which is why I think the former needs a button.


This has not been my experience. The gauntlets on my bespoke French cuffed shirts are actually shorter than on my MTM OCBDs, by almost an inch.
 
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Manton

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Mine are all longer.

In addition, because of the way they are constructed, the two sides of a barrel cuff gauntlet will always overlap, like a rolled up piece of paper, which minimizes gaping. FCs, on the other hand, don't overlap the same way, since the cuff is pressed together, liked a folded piece of paper. Hence they are more prone to gaping. Hence the button.
 

bant

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while i do see the virtue in the "OneSuit" for a budget conscious young professional looking for a versatile staple appropriate in a variety of social and business settings, this just sounds like a very boring, formulaic approach to getting dressed each morning. there is something to be said for building a versatile and interchangeable wardrobe but it strikes me as a bit extreme when it comes to shirts.

why limit yourself to just one? branch out and enjoy the various styles and fabrics that are available to you. experience the joy of wearing a linked cuff on one day, and a two button cuff the next. the simple pleasure in having the option to select a button down collar or spread collar at your very whimsy!

and to echo others - if your shirts are fraying after the 20th wearing to the point of necessary repair then you need a new washing machine end of story.
 

TheFoo

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All I can say is that I've never experienced any gaping, or at least not to any extent I found noticeable or bothersome.

I don't remember exactly when I read about this issue, but I seem to recall either Carl or Kabbaz arguing that gauntlet buttons aren't needed when a French cuffed shirt is properly fit. My old MTM Borrelli shirts all had French cuffs, and they had monstrously long gauntlets, with buttons. When Anna first fitted me in Naples, I was told something similar (though I can't be 100% sure since it was through multiple layers of translation): never gauntlet buttons on good shirts.
 

unbelragazzo

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I just don't understand your opposition to poplin. It is quite literally a "plain weave" and as neutral as you can get. It's the standard. That's why it can be worn with anything. With poplin, it's really the color and pattern that control whether it works in a particular context. The weave itself is always fine.


I don't hate it - I was just floating the idea of royal oxford as a sometimes-substitute to prompt discussion. I wear poplin with worsted and whatnot. I do prefer more texture with tweeds, etc., though.
 

Manton

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while i do see the virtue in the "OneSuit" for a budget conscious young professional looking for a versatile staple appropriate in a variety of social and business settings, this just sounds like a very boring, formulaic approach to getting dressed each morning. there is something to be said for building a versatile and interchangeable wardrobe but it strikes me as a bit extreme when it comes to shirts.

why limit yourself to just one? branch out and enjoy the various styles and fabrics that are available to you. experience the joy of wearing a linked cuff on one day, and a two button cuff the next. the simple pleasure in having the option to select a button down collar or spread collar at your very whimsy!

wecome to foo
 

zalb916

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What type of chambray are using? This thread reminds me of a story that my shirtmaker told me.

An insistent customer ordered six lengths of the famous (infamous?) ASW chambray. The shirtmaker tells the customer to let him make one shirt first to make sure he likes it. The customer insists on having all six at once, so the shirtmaker complies, makes the shirts, and sends them off. The customer receives the shirts and calls the shirtmaker, asking if he used a different fabric. After getting all six shirts, the customer realizes the fabric isn't all that great.

The kicker was that each length of the fabric came pre-cut. If it had come as just one length, the customer would have actually had enough for seven shirts. Although, I suppose that would be just one extra shirt that he wouldn't want.

On the other topic of collar roll, the same shirtmaker makes a pretty good one IMO. I recently posted it in the OCBD collar roll thread:

1500
[/quote]
 

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